


Tom Takes a Nap (scenes from a hospital)

by octopus_defence



Category: Mianite - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Drabbles, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, brief description of a panic attack in the second part, kinda angsty ngl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:28:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25382359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octopus_defence/pseuds/octopus_defence
Summary: (Within Syverne's Politics AU!)Tom is shot at a party. Everyone else reacts.
Relationships: William Tucker Boner/Tom Cassell
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11
Collections: Mianite Modern Politics AU





	Tom Takes a Nap (scenes from a hospital)

**Author's Note:**

> Huge thanks to Sy, Ty, Sem, Ashe, and everyone else who popped in! This is a collection of drabbles I wrote in the Discord that eventually grew into whatever it is now!

Dec rushes back across the ocean. 8 hours after the attack he arrives at the hospital and sees Tom.

Tom, who looks so tiny, nestled amongst the blankets, who looks like he could be sleeping if it weren’t for the various machines hooked up to his body. Everyone except Tucker silently leaves the room. Tucker doesn't look up from where he is kneeling at Tom's side.

\------------

Alyssa pokes her head through the door, into the room where her mentor, the man she considers another father, is lying still, struggling to breath and an inch from death.

She finds them in the viewfinder capturing the tear-streaks lining Tucker's face and the way that Dec is ashen. She captures the linked hands, each man holding the other for dear life.  _ snap _ With each photo she takes, her eyes become blurrier.  _ snap, snap _ Two of the most powerful men in the country kneel together, comforting each other at the foot of a hospital bed containing the man who took a bullet for her

She can't leave, transfixed by this somber, touching moment.  _ snapsnapsnapsnap. _ If she stops now she won't be able to get back up.  _ SNAP. _ Her hand slips and the camera focuses on Tom's still face, his lifeless body, and all she can hear is the beeping of the various machines that are in the room. She's hyperventilating now, and she knows it but she can’t stop. Her fingernails are digging rough red stripes into her arms as she watches, and she's rocking. Back and forth and back and forthandbackandforthandbackandforth- and suddenly there's a hand on her shoulder and a calm slow voice in her ear

\------------

Alyssa. Kind, sweet, determined Alyssa. Sonja sees so much of herself in the girl.

Sonja leans over the girl, rubbing slow circles in her back and whispering quiet, calming words in her ear. "It'll be okay, Tom is strong and young and healthy. He's not gonna die just because some fucker with a gun decided it. You know him as well as I do, he's not gonna go out on anyone's terms but his own." Alyssa started breathing a bit more, as Sonja continued. "That's right, breathe with me. In and out and in and out." As the girl calmed down, Sonja began to focus on Tucker. He was in the same position he had been in when she last poked her head in a few hours before. Leaving Alyssa at the doorway, Sonja approached Tucker and Dec

Tucker's expression was one she'd only ever seen on her parents, when her mother had been diagnosed with cancer and was in the hospital. It was grief, yes, but it was also hope and love. Watching him here she knew why he always put up with Tom's shenanigans and chaos, why he was always sticking beside the man he swore drove him insane. Tucker loved Tom, and while Sonja wasn't sure if Tucker himself had realized it yet, it was as clear as day to any outside observer.

\------------

Tom looked up, his eyes focussing on Tucker. "I always knew you loved me Jerry." And Tucker couldn't protest, not even at the nickname because it was true, he loved Tom and all of his stupid, goofy shenanigans. 

"Yep" he choked out.

Tom’s eyes fluttered shut and Tucker’s hands scrambled to his wrist, desperate to find a pulse.  _ There, no… THERE!  _ It was weak, but steady

  
  


\------------

Dec sees how Tucker looks at his son and he knows.

He sees this man, who his son has lived with for years, who has grown so close to his son, the kind of close that so few people ever reach, and he  _ knows _ . 

He knows that Tucker is hurting so badly, in a way that words could never describe and so he just takes Tucker's hand and squeezes it tightly. He joins the others in making sure that Tucker takes care of himself, reassures Tucker that he will stay with Tom and contact him  _ immediately _ if anything happens just to get the man to go home and take a shower, and he welcomes Tucker into his heart and his family.

He knows because he has been Tucker before.

\------------

Dec convinces Tucker to leave and it's once alone in the room with nothing but the beeping of machines that he finally cracks. After his wife died he stayed strong for Tom, Tom became what he lived for. And now every tear he held back, every sob, every cry is spilling out. He can’t lose Tom too.

Someone walks in, but he’s too far gone to realize. They hear him murmuring what sounds like " _ can't lose him, not now. No Tom you can't go, you can't leave us, leave him, leave me. I love you so much Thomas, so does everyone. You have to wake up, wake up for me, wake up for Tucker, you can't leave him my boy-he loves you so much…” _

And so Karl kneels down beside him and envelops Dec in a hug. He's normally so composed, the Speaker of the House but right here, right now he is a grieving father, who is pleading to whoever might listen to just let his son wake up. Karl ends up comforting Dec, who he's never seen anything less than perfectly in control, never getting upset, not even after some of the crazy stunts Tom used to pull when they were kids, and Karl is here doing what Dec did for him for years. Karl gives him a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear, with a mouth full of the reassuring words he knows by heart that Dec used to whisper to him when he couldn't fall asleep.

\------------

The two of them sit there, frozen but for the slow circles Karl is rubbing into Dec’s back, until Tom lets out a sudden hiss. His eyes open for a second, lock onto Dec startlingly serious before he squeezes Dec’s hand slightly and falls back asleep. Dec scrambles for his phone with shaking hands before Karl reaches over and takes it. 

Dec rasps out “Tucker… I promised…” before Karl nods with understanding and taps out a text.

Tucker Jericho

He briefly woke up

I’m on my way over

Ok. Don’t get your hopes up

Read 3:24 am

  
  


\------------

Tucker runs into the room, a far cry from the perfectly coiffed politician he typically looks. His clothes are disheveled and his eyes are desperate when they fall on Tom, his chest rising and falling and covered in bandages, his left leg in a sling, elevated above the bed. Karl and Dec simultaneously move out of the way as Tucker collapses to the floor.

He sits there for an eternity until Tom gasps again. His eyes flash, catching Tucker’s face before he tries to grin.

“Oh god Tom, I’m so sorry,” Tucker blurts out. “Sonja told me what happened and I fucked up, I really fucked-”

Tom cuts Tucker off, “Nah, it’s okay. I always knew you loved me Jerry.” 

His face falls, as the grin turns into a grimace. “I’m sorry that I made you so upset and hurt you. You are one of the best people I know, you deserve the world. I’m just glad you’re safe.” 

Tom’s eyes snap closed again, asleep before Tucker can choke another word out.

“No, you idiot. You can’t leave me, not now. Not before I can tell you... You bastard, I love you too.”

\------------

Karl saw his brother lying there, so weak, so fragile. Tom had always been the rambunctious one of the two of them, his chaos had always been a welcome certainty. Karl knew that Tom provided a similar role with Dec, their father, after his wife died, before Karl joined the family. Even as they grew older and developed their own beliefs and fought, Tom was a rock, unchangeable and grounding. Tom had picked Karl up and dragged him into the family as soon as he heard Karl needed one. He was alway a tornado of energy, jumping around, never staying still for more than a moment. So seeing him here, motionless, struck Karl as fundamentally wrong. 

When Tucker ran in, Karl ushered his father out of the way. He'd listened to Tom ramble about Tucker for months, he knew how much the two of them meant to each other. Tom loved Tucker with all his heart, and Karl strongly suspected that Tucker felt the same way for his brother. He barely remembered it, but he had been staying overnight with Tom when his mother's illness suddenly took a turn for the worse. Dec had looked then exactly as Tucker looked now, on his hands and knees praying to whatever deity might exist to just let his love live.

Karl remembered that, and he remembered how broken Dec had looked when his wife had finally passed. As much as Karl might hate Tucker for breaking his brother's heart, he knew that the two of them deserved a happy ending. Being in that sanitized room with the bleach-white walls hurt, and deep down Karl knew he wouldn't visit his brother until he was home. Tom was too still, too silent, too lifeless, too much of a corpse and too little of his brother. Tucker could pray alone, Karl was getting a drink

\------------

Sonja brings Alyssa home, carrying her inside like she is still a child and handing her off to Dianite and Mot. All four of them look absolutely terrible. The two men had been on the opposite side of the ballroom from Tom and Alyssa, and had only heard the gunshots ringing before the stampede of terrified dignitaries overtook them and they were pushed outside. When they got home they turned on the news, the footage of a reporter outside the building they had been in less than an hour ago played, switching with analysts in a studio who were all talking about Tom. Tom who had been shot, protecting an “unnamed White House intern” from a crazed terrorist who had been apprehended by guards soon after Tom went down. Tom, who was now in a hospital, fighting for his life.

When Sonja comes in, Dianite immediately scoops Alyssa from her arms, carrying her up to her childhood bedroom in a move he hasn’t made since she was in elementary school. She looks tiny and fragile in his arms, cradling her camera next to her chest as he whispers nonsensical, soothing words in her ears.

Downstairs, Mot helps Sonja to the couch, muting the television which is now discussing potential motives for the shooter.

“He took the bullet for her.” It’s not a question.

“She was right by his side all the way to the hospital. She must have taken hundreds of photographs of the whole night, if I had to guess.”

“How is he?”

“It’s rough. I left Tucker there, he looks lost. I called Dec too, he’s on a flight from England right now, should be here before dawn. He’s landing at Reagan and I’m getting him directly to Tom.”

“Thanks.” There’s so much that he wants to say, so much he needs to tell her, but he can’t put any of those thoughts into words.

“It’s nothing.” She needs him to know that she would do this for any of them, needs him to know that she would, they all would, do almost anything for Alyssa, but like him she can’t verbalize any of her feelings.

So the two of them sit in silence on the couch, savoring each other’s company as Dianite lies upstairs with Alyssa, softly coaxing her to sleep. For a minute the house is at peace.

As the sun rises over the Virginia suburbs, they all sleep, resting after what is easily the worst day of their lives.

\------------

Tom blinks, his eyes struggling to adapt to the harsh white light. He feels a hand holding his own, and turning his head sees Tucker sitting next to his bed. The other man looks half-asleep, wearing rumpled clothes and bags under his eyes. Tom is slightly confused before his brain fills in memories of the past night. 

_ Going to the party to apologize and explain to Tucker. _

_ Literally bumping into Alyssa, who shot him a thumbs-up. _

_ Making his way through the crowd with his note clutched tightly in his hand. _

_ Spotting the stranger, standing there with his gun trained on Alyssa and his finger on the trigger. _

_ Moving to protect her. _

_ A sharp, sudden crack. _

_ Pain in his back and his left leg. _

_ People panicking. _

Then, nothing. He vaguely remembers Tucker apologizing to him, before he fell back asleep, but that’s it. He squeezes Tucker’s hand as hard as he can, which is admittedly not that hard. But the other man must feel it because he sits up and squeezes back.

“Hey.” Tucker’s voice is raspy, further confirming Tom’s suspicion that he hasn’t taken care of himself.

“Hey yourself. How long was I out? How’s Alyssa? What happened to the guy?” Tom needs answers, he’s guessed at a little but needs to confirm everything is okay.

Tucker chuckled, a welcome sound as Tom tried to ignore how exhausted it sounds. “You’ve been out for 3 days. Alyssa’s doing as well as can be expected, she’s staying with her dads out in McLean for the time being, she wouldn’t leave your side for the entire ambulance ride here. She wasn’t hit, if that’s what you’re wondering. The shooter was arrested almost as soon as you were hit, he’s currently in jail without bond.”

Tom let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding, hissing as his back twinged with pain at the slight movement.

He realized he had another question. “Did you see my note?” He hadn’t had a chance to talk to Tucker before he spotted the shooter.

“Nah, Sonja explained it to me on the way here. Dec came back from England as soon as he heard and the two of them have been tag-teaming me to go home occasionally and take care of myself.”

Tom couldn’t help himself. “They’re doing a poor job by the looks of it.” He looked pointedly at Tucker’s wrinkled college t-shirt and worn blue jeans.

Tucker followed Tom’s line of sight and snorted. “Dec looks just as bad, maybe worse honestly. Speaking of-I need to call him, tell him you’re up.”

Tucker lets go of Tom’s hand to grab his phone, typing furiously before holding it up to his ear.

“Dec. He’s up.”

Someone on the other side, Tom thinks he can hear his dad’s voice, begins barraging Tucker with frantic questions.

“I can put him on, you might want to come over, though.”

Tucker hands Tom the phone, grabbing his hand back as soon as it’s empty and holding tight.

“Hey Dad.” Tom ventures, almost hesitantly.

“Tom!” Dec’s voice cracks, and there are tears in his eyes Tom can tell, even though this is not a video call.

“Yeah, I’m finally up.”

“I’m on my way over, I’ll be there soon.”

“Love you Dad.”

“Love you.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed, leave a kudos or comment if you did, they do wonders for an author's inspiration, or so I've heard! Find me on tumblr, @octopus-defence-squad, and have a good day!


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